FORGET THIS EVER HAPPENED

Claire’s summer becomes a mind-bending, life-changing mystery.

It’s 1993, and Claire is trapped in small-town Indianola, Texas, spending the summer caring for her ailing Grammy. Homesick and missing her new boyfriend, Claire is eager to leave harsh, critical Grammy’s sweltering house and get to know her new friends better: charismatic Julie, whom Claire just can’t stop thinking about, and the perky, old-fashioned, and sometimes unnerving Audrey. When a strange monster appears—a small, alligatorlike creature covered in fur that speaks to Claire and turns out to be just the first of many monsters that inhabit the town—and her memory starts slipping, Claire realizes Indianola has hidden, dangerous secrets woven in its history. Alternating between Claire’s and Julie’s perspectives, the mystery is slow to unveil itself, intermingling elements of supernatural horror and an idyllic, rural summer to ratchet up the tension. Likewise, Julie’s insider view as a local who works for her family’s monster exterminator business gives the mystery an extra twist. As Claire delves deeper into Indianola’s past, new family secrets emerge and change everything. The slow-burn lesbian romance, convoluted family mysteries, and the paranormal aspects of memory loss and the nature of reality will hook readers. Claire and Audrey are cued as white; Julie and her family are Latinx.

Will send readers through a twisty labyrinth to a satisfying conclusion.